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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25115095">Metal Bounds</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxjun/pseuds/xxjun'>xxjun</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Abduction, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Blood and Violence, Eventual Smut, Jaguar Choi Soobin, Leopard Choi Yeonjun, M/M, Mention of abuse, Minor Character Death, Minor Huening Kai/Kang Taehyun, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Puma Choi Beomgyu, Romance, Shifters, Strangers to Lovers, no beta we die like men</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 08:14:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,820</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25115095</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxjun/pseuds/xxjun</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>AU in which after being abducted by a group of dangerous men, Beomgyu is waiting the day he enters the giant arena, in where he’s forced to fight other pumas for his life. But he was determined to make his escape before that day arrives, at any cost. He wasn’t expecting to find help from another captured leopard, who came from a known rival clan of his.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Choi Beomgyu/Choi Soobin, Choi Beomgyu/Choi Yeonjun</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Metal Bounds</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There’s an unforgiving silence that tickles Beomgyu’s skin in irritation. It felt unsettling around him, gripping his shoulders and pulling at his chains that restrains and limits his movements. The cold metallic of his bonds strains his wrists, digging and biting into his skin till they felt numb. The shackles around his ankles were in the same place, always preventing him from taking more than three steps ahead of him.</p><p>He has lost track of time. There were no windows to show him the time of day, no way he could tell how many hours had passed since he last saw someone. He was left by himself, in a pitch black and freezing chamber that was his prison. He would sleep a lot, in hopes that when he wakes up, he’ll be awake to find something new or brought up somewhere else besides his prisoning room. But it was always the same.</p><p>The only thing that came in was food and very small portions of it. The first day, he awoke to a plate of raw meat placed in front of him, close enough that he could crane his neck down and eat the best he could, causing a lot of mess around the surrounding areas and his face. He had no idea how the food was brought in or who was bringing it but he knew they were keeping an eye on him, coming in only when he was asleep.</p><p>Unfortunately, the food that once came in daily (he assumes) now was almost never coming. His last meal was roughly over thirty hours ago and his stomach was empty, growling for food. His throat was dry. His captors would bring in water as well, but it had vanished along with his food. He figured they were letting him there to die, but for what?</p><p>His memory was narrow, as he only remembers the vaguely of the night he was captured. He knew he was running through the dark outskirts of the city, away from his home territory and his adrenaline was the highest it has ever been. There was a distinct smell of fear and excitement coming from him as he ran with his all. He didn’t remember how they managed to get him but he knew they must have been watching him for a while to be able to keep up with him and know all of his shortcuts and tricks because at the end of chase, he was chained up.</p><p>When he awoke, he was in outrage. He kicked and yelled, threatened and tried to break lose of the things that kept him in place. He even tried to turn but to his horror, he couldn’t. He wasn’t sure how or why he couldn’t turn into his animal, it scared him to think that his captors have done something to him that has caused this. After days of wasting his energy screaming and fighting nothing, he tried sending stress signals to anyone nearby but not once was he sent back a response. No one could hear him and he was alone, at the hands of people that could potentially do him harm but so far, kept themselves hidden from him.</p><p>He was sure they just wanted to watch him suffer before slowly starving to death. Or maybe they were just waiting till they could kill him once he was weak and had no fight in him left. If that was the case, he had lost all of his fight. His efforts of escaping were to no avail.</p><p>In between his long naps, he would sit utterly still in the darkness and think of his friends and family back at home who were probably out looking for him, worried sick. He would think of Kai, wondering if the young puma was handling this well. He would think of his dad, with no family left but him he was sure his dad was restless and demanding answers from everybody. He thought of his Yeonjun hyung, wonders if he was out looking for him during the late hours of night, risking his safety for him. They probably thought he was taken by the Northern pack, but he knew if he was taken by their rival group, they would have killed him on the spot the moment they found him by himself.</p><p>His gut told him it was the humans were probably the cause of this and the idea mortified him. If humans caught on to his identity of part animal, they would know there was more of him and they would target down his family till there was no one left free and unharmed. And if they turn them into their lab rats and do their inhuman experiments on them? Used them for their own benefits? Beomgyu shudders. He prays to every one of his ancestors they didn’t.</p><p>The more he stayed chained up, huddled against the corner of the chamber, the more numb he grew against the cold. But the hunger was still there. He told himself that if he slept, they would probably slip in a slice of meat for him and that got his hopes up. Only when he wakes up, sniffs the room in search of food, his heart breaks and his stomach rumbles. He would try to ignore the horrible feeling and attempt to fall back asleep as it was his only way of escaping his torture. It was difficult.</p><p>The first time he broke down was just a few hours ago, when he screamed at the open space before him, screamed with so much emotion he hoped they would at least feel a tiny bit of sympathy. He pleaded to them to let him go, he didn’t care at what cost as long as he could leave the dark cell. He dared not utter a word of his family, fearing that it might endanger them if they weren’t already in their own prisons.</p><p>He can’t imagine Kai or his sick father in a place like this, he couldn’t bring himself to think of such a thought or picture it. At least with him, he wasn’t as young as Kai or seriously Ill like his father. He also had a fighting chance, if it came that is. He was one of the fastest runners in his clan, he could outrun anyone. He might have not been able to escape his captors the first time but with this new determination, he was positive he would succeed if he managed to escape.</p><p>If nobody was able to hear him through his signals, it meant he was far off from his home territory. He could try running for a few miles, take in his surroundings and figure out where the hell they took him. Only after he was sure he was out of danger would he send a signal, then he would continue to run until his legs grew tired and gave up on him.</p><p>He would need to know who it was he was dealing with first. If it were a rival group that did take him hostage, it would be tricky but not as heavy and troublesome if it were humans. Humans were unpredictable, there were always more of them and they armed themselves from head to toe. Unlike pumas, human’s actions change a lot according to their emotions. A frightened person meant his chances of getting shot and possibly killed were high, escaping them would require a lot of avoiding.</p><p>Pumas didn’t act as impulsive as the humans but if threatened, they would attack him. He was still young and not the strongest at defending or attacking, especially if it was a group of animals against him. They would cage their fangs around his throat within seconds which was a good thing that he would rather flee than stay and fight.</p><p>He just needs to know who his captors are. And he’ll think of a plan from there.</p><p>He drags the heavy chains closer to his body, huddling the cold wall and stares with empty eyes at the darkness that trapped him. He pulls his legs against his chest, hugs his knees, feeling the scrap of metal along his skin as he does so. He feels a wave of emotions wreck his body one more time and he stifled a sob, blinking away the tears that were forming.</p><p>What were the chances of him actually surviving? He was far from home, hungry, lost and fearful. His captors want something from him, and they’ll eventually get it. If they already have it, he wouldn’t be alive at that moment. As long as he remains there, he’s his only hope.</p><p>-</p><p>It wasn’t long after he drifted off into sleep that he’s suddenly awoken by a familiar sound. He jolts from his huddled position on the floor, chin high and posture straight, staring at all four sides of the big chamber. He couldn’t see anything, yet there was a distinctive sound of dragging and metal.</p><p>He freezes, tries to listen and figure out where it was coming from. He was on alert and his thoughts were blank. He crawls to his knees and hands, eyes looking at the opposite end of the room where a door was bolted shut, the only form of exit in this cell.</p><p>It was coming from outside his prison. The sound of the metallic shackles and chains hitting the floor and dragging against the hard floor echoed around the room, joining in with the noise from outside.</p><p>His heart was beating out of his chest and anxiety washed over him. He swallows thickly, draws nearer to the door, trying to listen in to what was going on outside. It was the first time he has ever heard something other than his own cries and stomach. There was a muffled voice, followed by a harsh thud. The chains sounded all too familiar to Beomgyu, he looks down at his own and then curiously tilts his head to the side, trying to make sense of the situation.</p><p>Chains. They were dragging chains on the ground. From what he could assume, it was heavy but not causing much trouble. Was it his captors? Have they decided enough was enough and they’re coming in to kill him?</p><p>He stops crawling when the chains hold him back, only allowing him to reach halfway the room. He ignores the sting he feels from both of his ankles and wrists. He sits on his knees in the middle of the dark, freezing room and waits.</p><p>He could be waiting for his death or his salvation, he doesn’t know what to expect. If it was his captors or maybe his family who managed to track him down. The thought of seeing his family after so long brought hope in him, hope that left him shortly after he was imprisoned.</p><p>He closes his eyes to concentrate his mind and silently hopes he gets a response back.</p><p><em>Hello</em>?</p><p>He cages his bottom lip with his teeth, begging for a reply, begging that today he was going to be saved, he was going to escape.</p><p>A short moment of silence crushed down his hopes and his shoulders fell. He hangs his head low, squeezes his eyes and then looks at the darkness from above.</p><p>But then there was a crash coming from outside and unknown voices yell from the other side of the wall. He perks up.</p><p>There was a definite sound of struggles coming from two parties. The voices belonged to various men, all shouting at each other and grunting. The sound of chains being pulled and something hitting the wall roughly gave Beomgyu a close idea of what was going on.</p><p>After a small period of trouble, they continued on. They walked closer and closer to Beomgyu’s door and he had a hard time processing the possibility that they were going to his chamber until they were here. He hears the jingle of keys right at his door and he scurries back against the wall just when the door was pushed open, a loud groan resonating in the large chamber.</p><p>With wide eyes and the beaming white lights that basks him in the dark room, he watches with terror, with so much anxiety, he started to feel sick to his stomach. Someone takes a step in and the shadowy figure comes into his view.</p><p>“He’s awake.”</p><p>A man approaches him, but stands at a safe distance away from him. He wears a black armor, with a leather mask that hides away his identity. There was a pistol on his belt, right above his hip, near where his hands were resting and Beomgyu knew if he were to try to escape now, he would be killed.</p><p>The man just stares at him, his eyes trained at the puma. It was intimidating, under the heavy eyes of him and his men that were waiting to be called in. Beomgyu was terrified at what brought them in here or what they were capable of doing to him. These were humans after all.</p><p>The stranger scoffs, shakes his head and waves his men in. “Bring the other one in. This one isn’t going to do anything. He’s scared shitless.”</p><p>Beomgyu watches with big, intrigued eyes as the men come. There were four other people in the chamber now with the same clothing as the other, each holding their own end of chains, hauling something in, using a lot of their combined strength as the man in charge observes them.</p><p>A boy comes strutting to his knees, with chains restraining his body from movement, from getting away. He was forced to the ground by the men and there he heaves, breathing through his mouth, panting. He fought a lot, but at the end he lost to them. Much like how Beomgyu came to that place.</p><p>“Well,” the man in charge spoke out, voice teasing as he directed his words at the boy kneeling before him. “Your new room. It’s a lot less spacious and quite literally no light at all. But that’s what you get after causing a scene yesterday.”</p><p>The boy stares down at the flooring, still heaving from his struggles. He slowly raises his head, chin up high with a hard glare fixated on the man. There was a cut on his bottom lip, blood trickling down but his tongue came out to lick it away. His hair was disheveled, clothes almost torn apart and tousled. The exposed parts of his neck showed marks, red and turning purple.</p><p>Beomgyu tenses when a familiar scent washes over him and he becomes much more aware of the situation.</p><p>They got another puma.</p><p>“Don’t give me that fierce look, now.” The man taunts and approaches the boy. “Let’s not go through phase one again.”</p><p>He reaches out to touch the boy’s black hair, but the puma whips his head to one side and moves back causing the chains wrapped around his body to tighten but he didn’t seem to care the slightest bit.</p><p>The captor huffs and retracts his hand away. The silence was overpowering with a heavy tension, the air becoming way too hard to breathe as Beomgyu wonders what was happening before him and what was the man saying?</p><p>“You got a roommate, don’t make yourself look bad and cold, hm?”</p><p>The boy’s sharp gaze immediately lands on Beomgyu and they lock eyes. It was intimidating, taking away the air from his lungs as he half expects the puma to try and lunge at him, despite his restraints keeping him in place. If there’s one thing that should be clear, pumas did not like the company of other pumas. It provoked fights and rivalry. Beomgyu hopes the men knew that if they were planning on keeping two pumas in the same cell, the chances of things going extremely wrong were high.</p><p>Beomgyu tried recognizing the other’s face, trying to fit a name to the new stranger but they had never met before. Maybe he was from the other side of the country, somewhere far. Beomgyu wasn’t sure if he should be glad he wasn’t from a rival clan or not, as any new pumas could be a potential danger. But rival pumas were still a big threat.</p><p>“Lock him up.”</p><p>The man snaps his gloved fingers and moves to the side, instructing the other men where to tie up his chains.</p><p>The men had to semi drag the other one, as he showed little protest until he was pushed against the wall and kept there while the men secured the end of the chains together and on one of the bolts against the wall. As soon as a click resonates around the room, the men scurry to the door just as the puma lunges towards them, hissing at them but the chains hold him back.</p><p>“You’ll be here until your next performance, fierce.” The man in charge walks in front of his men, directing his words at the puma. “For now, you will be punished for approximately two weeks. If something does occur to the other players, you’ll step in for them.”</p><p>Nothing made sense to Beomgyu. He was confused as to what the words could possibly mean. Performance? Could that be good? Punished? Why was he being punished? Players? Were they more of them in here, detained and chained up?</p><p>He wants to ask, to speak up but his mouth felt dry, possibly from the lack of water or the fact that he was shaking in his shackles. He wants to know where he was, who they were and why were they keeping him here. But alas, all he could do was stare almost pleadingly at them, hoping his eyes showed what he was feeling, what he wanted. His leg starts cramping up and he tries to subtly readjust his position so he was sitting on the cold floor and not on his legs. The movement caused his chains to scrap and the man pries his eyes away from the new puma, towards him.</p><p>There was a sickening pause as Beomgyu waited for something to happen, with the scrutinized eyes of the stranger, it was making him feel uneasy, tense. Without knowing what these men wanted from him, anything could happen. They could decide to end him right then and there, in front of the puma who was just moved into his chamber. After all, if there’s one more of him, there could be countless other pumas held against their will here, meaning if they lost one, they wouldn’t be affected.</p><p>“This one is one of our newest, correct?” Asks the main man, taking cautious steps towards him.</p><p>“Yes, sir. He was brought in two weeks ago.”</p><p>He’s been there for that long?</p><p>“He’s new.” The man says, his words slightly muffled through the mask. He stops a few feet away from Beomgyu, close enough that the puma could smell his heavy cologne from where he stayed on the ground. “He’s fresh, no bruises or injuries that I could see. He looks younger than most of our detainees.”</p><p>“He’s twenty-one.”</p><p>The man hums. “Not that young.” He says while slowly squatting down, slowly inching closer to Beomgyu.</p><p>The closer he got sent Beomgyu to shuffle on his knees, freezing when the man stopped moving. Then the stranger reaches a hand out and Beomgyu eyes it with wariness. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, chills running down his shirt till he shivers. The hand continued to come closer, invading his space and his heart sped up, hammering against his chest. His mind tells him it’s danger, he should do something about it but what was there to do when you were chained up and the danger had a weapon? Absolutely nothing.</p><p>He flinches when the hand touches his cheek lightly, fingers grazing his skin and caressing his cheeks in the most uncomfortable way. He breathes in heavily through his nose, trying to stay calm and control his instincts of fighting the intruding hand. It was hard when he was scared of what could happen if he did the wrong move.</p><p>“He’s pretty.”</p><p>The unsuspecting compliment made Beomgyu look up, staring at the dark outlines of where the eyes were suppose to be in the mask. His breath hitched when the hand went up and pats his hair. Usually, he would fall for the touches of family or friends, he would crave for comforting pets and strokes, but this wasn’t comforting at all. It was intrusive and unwelcoming touches from a stranger that was probably the reason he was there in the first place. He wanted to cry out, pull away and keep his distance but his mouth remained shut and his body was frozen in place.</p><p>The sound of the other puma pulling at his chains with enough force to break his restraints if it weren’t metal brought all of their attention. Beomgyu stares as the puma pants, trying to break free from the obstacle that kept him close to the wall. It was clear that anger was sweeping from him, large amounts that seemed to strengthen him.</p><p>The man in front of him sighs and stands, spares Beomgyu only a glance before heading towards the door. He walks past his men who eyed warily at the puma who continued to fight against the metallic bonds, most probably concerned if he could end up escaping.</p><p>“Don’t worry about him. He won’t succeed at doing anything.” The man taunts, already taking a step out of the chamber. “Let’s go.”</p><p>They all scurry out of the room and when the door closes shut, the light leaves with them, engulfing Beomgyu once again in the pit of dark with a stranger. The absence of light didn’t seem to bother the other puma who continued to tug and pull, grunting and struggling.</p><p>Beomgyu swallowed thickly as his eyes adapted to the dark quickly. He could see the outline of the other puma’s larger figure and see how he had his head turned around, half of his body twisted to the side.</p><p>A puma that large could mean a lot of trouble if they were to ever encounter outside of their imprisonment. Usually, the larger pumas make their way through anything without a fight. Their tall figures simply make a clear path for them, as no one wants to pick a fight they’ll most likely end up losing in. Luckily for him, they were both chained up and could barely move five steps away from the wall. As long as he doesn’t trigger anything, he was almost certain nothing bad would happen to him.</p><p>He shuffles on his bottom, scoots back till his body is pressing against the cool wall and sighs, blinking and trying to harbor his breathing. He was still pretty shaken up and it was hard to even process what just happened when he could barely think about it.</p><p>Those were people. His captors were humans and they were taking pumas like him. They were hauling them in dark rooms and keeping them there. But for what? Were they using them as experiments like Beomgyu predicted? How many more of his kind were trapped in these confined rooms? The man mentioned something of players, Beomgyu could only imagine the hundreds of sick possibilities that the term ‘players’ could mean.</p><p>His mind told him that the puma might know the answers to his long list of questions but focusing on the way anger was driving the other puma to struggle uselessly against his chains, he kept quiet. It was best for him.</p><p>He slides down the wall till his head hits the cold ground and the side of his body supports the rest of him. He was growing drowsy, his eyelids heavy and part of his mind told him to rest, it was all he could do at that point. But another part of him told him to watch out for the danger across him. The chains were tough, hard to break free from but Beomgyu believed with enough anger and determination, anything could happen. And if the puma manages to escape, the results are obvious.</p><p>He resides closer to the icy wall, positioned across further away from the other captive, wary of the noises he made from all his fight against the restraints. Before he drifted deeper into his mind, he could have sworn he saw the other stop all movement, crane his neck and his eyes started to change into warm yet daunting blue glow. The glow was hauntingly pretty, alluring and eerie all at the same time.</p><p>He didn’t dwell on what he saw too much, as he let his breath to steady and his eyes finally closed. After all, he could have just been imagining the infamous glow of a crescent glow. And if his eyes weren’t deceiving him, he would have to stress about it later.</p><p>–</p><p>A grunt followed by the scraping of metal against metal woke Beomgyu up in an instant. He shot up and regretted it almost immediately as his head became light-headed and his vision blacked out for a fraction of a second, followed by even more darkness when he came back to his senses.</p><p>He was quick to adapt to the dark, looking about every corner of the large cell, before staring at the dark shape tossing and moving around. The large chamber then settled down in silence after the puma stopped fidgeting around and Beomgyu silently hoped that the other fell asleep, not wanting to deal with the extra tension if the other was awake.</p><p>Beomgyu relaxes only after a moment of brief quietness. He changes his arms position and maneuvers them against the floor, beneath his head and acting as a pillow on the cold, dirty floor. He shivers at the icy air and tries closing in on himself, pulling his knees closer to his chest and his head resting on his knees till he was almost a perfect ball.</p><p>Though his instincts were telling him to be on his guard of the dangerous presence sleeping right a few feet away from where he was. He tried to brush them aside in sake of not turning into his aggressive demeanor and not evoke troubles with his new ‘cell mate’. But the tension was quite literally in the air and he was struggling to not let it affect him.</p><p>A puma could never be around one of its kinds, unless it was a part of the clan or family. He barely hears stories regarding friendships and nice rivalry between two clans but it must be because of a puma’s ego, they would not try to befriend the enemy at any cost. And here he was, forcing his anxiety to subdued back down his throat, out of a sudden feeling a wave of nausea come over him.</p><p>The smell of an enemy could do two things to a puma. It could drive them into rage until they lash out and retrieve satisfaction to their anger or make a puma feel sick if he can’t do the first. It’s a smell of danger, eating away at Beomgyu’s crippling mind and taunting it. Even if the puma hasn’t done anything that showed signs of hostility or a threat, just the mere presence of one could do things to a puma’s mind.</p><p>Beomgyu wonders if he was having the same effect on the other. He was thrashing and grunting out earlier, he must be as disturbed as Beomgyu. He wasn’t sure if he should pity the stranger, as they have no choice but to carry out the painful feeling. If they weren’t such a place, there would be chances that he would never have experienced a gut wrenching feeling. It was his first time undergoing it with so much difficulty, he wonders if Yeonjun had to get used to the awful discomfort after years of going after the enemy and tracking down intruders.</p><p>If he did, he never spoke about it. Not that Beomgyu could remember precisely. Though he knew the older would stumble into their shared cabin with relapsing exhaustion, complaining about his ache in his head and the intolerable cramps. Staying so close to other unknown pumas left him crawling to bed wearily, knocked out for hours. Yet, he still managed to get up early, knowing the hunts wouldn’t start without him and there were mouths to feed.</p><p>Usually, pumas would hunt for their own but after the world changed for the worse and there was no government at all, they had to rely on numbers and order. It was the only way they could keep each other safe and protect the weaker ones. Beomgyu grew up in the clan, way after the apocalypse. The clan was his family, he grew thinking the typical way a puma lives its life is besides others. In reality, they were meant to be isolated, far from each other, in their own area.</p><p>Beomgyu would have preferred staying in a group that provides protection and comfort; it’s what makes him feel safe, knowing that if anything did happen, there were plenty of them willing to fight for each other.</p><p>But now he wasn’t feeling that comfort or safety he longed to miss from his clan. Instead, the emotions in him were stirring into something more sinister, possessive and fearful. Something that other pumas were used to feeling, but he wasn’t.</p><p>He tries not to panic when he suddenly recalls what he saw before he fell asleep. Blue, haunting eyes staring at him from across the chamber. A Crescent was inside the cell with him.</p><p>Crescents were from the North, and while most clans from the north knew their boundaries and morals, Crescents were the exact opposite. He had lost count the number of times Crescents tried to provoke fights, always pushing for more dilemma for both clans.</p><p>If there was one clan Rivemoon wasn’t willing to encounter or negotiate, it was Crescents. The history goes beyond the beginning of the New world, with two pumas who fought for the most territory; Territory that now belongs to not one of the two clans but instead various others who kept a sort of barrier in between the two rival groups.</p><p>Crescents don’t cross over to Rivemoon and Rivemoon don’t cross over to Crescent. It was an immediate death wish if the barrier was crossed and one was to step foot into the rival’s territory. Not that one would want to. But lately, food out in the open has become scarce and there’s more and more sightings of intruders crossing territories in search of something to eat. If the food in the south ran out low, Beomgyu feared they would need to take the risk and cross.</p><p>He still couldn’t get the vague image of the intriguing yet unnerving gleam of blue eyes. They were a firelight of the deepest color of the ocean, gleaming and ghostly, almost felt like it was piercing straight through Beomgyu and reading him.</p><p>Clans each have a distinctive eye color, the beautiful alluring blue happens to be Crescent's signature color. Rivemoons, his clan, had a fiery yellow that can’t be mistaken. A clan not far from where Beomgyu’s family resides, has eyes that glow bright green. And he has encountered a few with eyes vivid of purple. There were some clans with similar colors, often viewed as allies during times of distress and battle. But Rivemoon only had a few they could actually call an ally, before they mysteriously stopped communicating with them and when someone went over to check out the reason to their silence, their homes were left alone, unguarded and the entirety of their territory vacant. Not a single puma were present.</p><p>It left Rivemoon startled and demented. Some speculated that their rival clans finally managed to finish them off, wiping out their clan and taking those who were left alive. Others thought they left, headed out further west in search of a better place to hunt for food. Both seem logical enough, but with Beomgyu’s knew profound knowledge and his current situation, he wonders if they were taken from the humans as well.</p><p>If they were, would they possibly still be alive? It’s been half a year since the disappearance of the clan, surely maybe they were still breathing and safe?</p><p>He shivers as a question arose amid his thoughts. What if they weren’t? What if the humans did something horrible to them that left them dead?</p><p>Humans weren’t all sick in the head but he definitely knew these humans were more than ill in the head. They were keeping pumas like him here against their will, and by the way they treated the other puma, they didn't care for their well-being at all. They probably killed a few of them already.</p><p>Beomgyu wonders how they found out about their existence. They probably caught a glimpse of one of them, out in the deserted towns and empty streets. He knew every time they shifted into their animal form they were putting themselves as well as their clan in huge risk, but when the world was at a state where the people were desperate to survive, they relied on their animal side more. They knew the risk of getting caught was immensely high but they still did it anyways.</p><p>Beomgyu found himself unable to avoid looking away from the other puma who stopped struggling a little over a while ago. He was sitting perfectly still, his back turned away from him and his head hung in between his shoulders. His pants resonate softly around the room, filling every corner. Pure exhaustion was pouring out of him from the looks of how he was slowly crumbling to the ground, his strength all used up. Beomgyu wonders how long he has been awake?</p><p>This puma has friends and family, just like Beomgyu, who were probably worried sick for him and out searching for him. But what if they were also imprisoned? Caught in chains and held against their will here?</p><p>How long has the other been here? He’s from the Crescent clan, surely a disappearance from one of their members would spread like wildfire among the clans, Accusations would be thrown around, and tension would build up faster, and the barrier would dwindle. How could a Crescent suddenly go missing and not a word is heard from that clan?</p><p>Something was wrong. It was awfully obvious. And Beomgyu wasn’t sure if his mind was able to comprehend what exactly was going on. He was in a rough state, his stomach was particularly empty and his energy was low, his understanding of things were nearly nonexistent.</p><p>Staring at the puma, Beomgyu knew that all his questions could have a potential reasonable answer. The source of all the answers resides in the sleeping figure ten feet away from him.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hello&lt;3 !! </p><p>This is the first fic I have decided to post on Ao3 and it’s been in my drafts since puma mv. I suppose it’ll have at least 5 parts, which part over 3k words. I hope you enjoyed the first!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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